CHAPTER LXXXIX

    How the captains Felipe Gutiérrez and Diego de Rojas set out from Cuzco on their expedition of conquest.

IT will be well, now that the wars of Las Salinas and of Chupas are bygones, while the time has not yet come for those of Quito and Huarina, and the others which were fought in the Realm, that we should continue our history by relating the things that happened, for I have set myself the task of giving an account of them to my country. Yet my mind is so confused in trying to comprehend the affairs which we yet have to deal with, and my body so aweary through the long journeys and protracted¹ vigils I have passed through, that I certainly need divine help to complete the great undertaking² that I have in hand.

My condition is like it was during the expeditions I took part in, when climbing great and rugged³ mountains so lofty that their summits were lost in the clouds and the scud⁴ that accompanied them. At times, when I saw myself in the midst of the ascent⁵, I used to feel so fagged that it was very difficult for me to reach the top; and on turning to gaze beneath me it seemed as if the deep ravines must reach down into the inferno⁶. So in my exhausted⁷ state I prayed to God to give me strength to pass onward⁸. Looking back at what I have written since 1523 down to the present time, and realizing how voluminous the writing has been, as well as the much that remains⁹ to be finished, I am[315] in still greater trouble than I was in the mountains. For were I to finish off here what is begun, the work would be incomplete; while, if I go on, my judgment¹⁰ is so weak, and my head so vacuous¹¹ that I know not how I shall be able to do it. But reflecting, as the Philosopher says, that some men must attempt great deeds and worship lofty ideals, the commoner sort being open to all, I will go on, while praying to God to give me strength, and invoking¹² the aid of His most holy Mother; and I will finish the work, or perish in the attempt.

We have already said that the Governor Vaca de Castro appointed the captain Felipe Gutiérrez to be the leader of an exploring party to the region lying to the northward¹³ of the famous river of La Plata and the Strait of Magellan, and the captain Diego de Rojas to remain as Governor of the first city they might found; and that he named Nicolás de Heredia, jointly¹⁴ with these, as Camp-master. As, in this empire of the Indies, there had been great trouble, owing to the death of those in command, Vaca de Castro desired that his Majesty¹⁵'s interest should not suffer in such a contingency¹⁶ this time. So he provided that, if it should please God to take Felipe Gutiérrez, the command should vest in the two, and, if one of them died, the other should remain in charge. There were great reports of a river called Arauco, on the borders of Chile, and the intention was to explore in that direction. As soon as the captains received their commissions, they busied themselves in enlisting¹⁷ men, and soon got 130 Spaniards together, horse and foot. To provide for them, besides the help given by Vaca de Castro, they all three laid out as much money as they could provide. For Ensign-general they had Hurtado, for captain Pedro López de Ayala, for royal officer Rodrigo de Cantos. Among them, too, was the spirited youth Diego Alvarez, who was afterwards Ensign-general at the rout¹⁸ of Huarina. When all things were ready, Diego de Rojas set[316] out for the valley of Chiquana[150] with sixty Spaniards, where he decided¹⁹ to wait for the General Felipe Gutiérrez, and the Camp-master Nicolás de Heredia. So Diego de Rojas departed, and marched until he reached that valley, where he learnt from the local Indians that there were large native settlements farther on and that the Indians thereabouts had many Spanish fowls²⁰. These were derived²¹ from the Spaniards who went out from Spain by command of his Majesty to explore the river of La Plata, taking Don Pedro de Mendoza with them as Governor, and who went through many wonderful experiences, concerning which I will not write.

Now let the reader please observe what a deal there is for us to understand in the affairs of Peru. A very particular friend of mine has told me that I ought to give information respecting the great rivers Uriaparia and Mara?ón, and this one of La Plata. I answered him that if it should please God to give me grace to get through with the itinerary²² of my journeys I would write a special book for him on those subjects; but that at present I am concerned with the true account of men who in those days were engaged in discoveries, and must therefore leave the reader to find in that one what is here wanting. For the purpose of pursuing this, our work, there is no need to state more than that the Spaniards who accompanied Mendoza had but recently come from Spain, and did not understand the ways of the New World, nor what men have to surmount²³ there; so that many of them died. The survivors²⁴, after their Governor's death, were gentlemen and men of honour, for death takes more quickly those of low degree than the noble; and these pushed on inland from the east side, traversing many regions and great provinces, until at last they came out very near to the town of Plata, as we will[317] relate farther on. As the ships that had landed them on the coast left some of the fowls I have mentioned, our two explorers were able to procure²⁵ some, and the natives, finding that they were profitable, and dainty eating, bred so many that they became distributed and increased far and wide, and thus it was that Diego de Rojas came to hear about them. As these Indians were such romancers, they exaggerated the reports of that country, saying that the Christians²⁶ who went there were very fortunate, and that the land was very rich in gold and silver of its own production. The Spaniards, hearing these things, besought²⁷ Diego de Rojas to leave the eastern[151] road, which led towards the river Arauco, and to make for the part mentioned by the Indians, so that in a short time they might perchance find themselves in a country where all would become rich. Diego de Rojas, eager for discovery, was overjoyed on hearing the words of those who wanted to go that way, and decided to do so.

1 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

3 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

4 scud   

n.疾行；v.疾行

参考例句：

• The helpers came in a scud.救援者飞奔而来。
• Rabbits scud across the turf.兔子飞快地穿过草地。

5 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

6 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

11 vacuous   

adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的

参考例句：

• Male models are not always so vacuous as they are made out to be.男模特儿并不总像人们说的那样愚蠢。
• His eyes looked dull,almost vacuous.他看上去目光呆滞，茫然若失。

12 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

13 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

14 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

15 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

16 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

17 enlisting   

v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• He thought about enlisting-about the Spanish legion-about a profession. 他想去打仗，想参加西班牙军团，想找个职业。 来自辞典例句
• They are not enlisting men over thirty-five. 他们不召超过35岁的人入伍。 来自辞典例句

18 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

19 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

20 fowls   

鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马

参考例句：

• A great number of water fowls dwell on the island. 许多水鸟在岛上栖息。
• We keep a few fowls and some goats. 我们养了几只鸡和一些山羊。

21 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

23 surmount   

vt.克服；置于…顶上

参考例句：

• We have many problems to surmount before we can start the project.我们得克服许多困难才能著手做这项工作。
• We are fully confident that we can surmount these difficulties.我们完全相信我们能够克服这些困难。

24 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

25 procure   

vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条

参考例句：

• Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗？
• I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。

26 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

27 besought   

v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词)

参考例句：

• The prisoner besought the judge for mercy/to be merciful. 囚犯恳求法官宽恕[乞求宽大]。 来自辞典例句
• They besought him to speak the truth. 他们恳求他说实话. 来自辞典例句